Johnstown nursing home gives up fight with village, announces closing

An embattled Licking County nursing home announced today that it is shutting down, putting an end to months of legal fights and leaving more than 100 out of a home or a job.

Lori Kurtzman, The Columbus Dispatch

An embattled Licking County nursing home announced today that it is shutting down, putting an end to months of legal fights and leaving more than 100 out of a home or a job.

Northview Senior Living Center, Johnstown’s only nursing home, will begin sending out legal notices of the closure next week. Officials did not provide an exact closing date.

The center employs 65 and houses 46 residents, the latter of which it will assist in relocating. Employees have been offered severance pay or employment elsewhere, said officials at Zanesville-based Zandex Health Care Corp., which operates Northview.

The closure cuts short what might have been a lengthy court battle between Zandex and the village’s zoning board. Zandex officials said they couldn’t afford the fight for Northview, which long had been unprofitable.

“It takes a lot of money to defend yourself, even if you think you’re in the right,” said Zandex spokesman Stoey Stout.

Johnstown residents had complained that Northview was accepting younger, more dangerous patients who were prone to outbursts and jumping a fence on the property. Northview, operated by Zandex since 1984, sits on North Main Street across from a day-care center and a public library.

The village zoning board said that was a violation of a permit Zandex had received to expand the center in 1988, which defined a nursing home as a place for the care of children, pensioners and the elderly. On Sept. 21, the board voted 4-0 to uphold zoning inspector Jim Blair’s June 25 order that Northview stop conducting behavioral health treatment at the center.

Zandex officials acknowledged that Northview, as its elderly population dwindled, had begun taking younger patients with behavioral issues. But they maintained that it was still functioning as a nursing home and therefore wasn’t violating its permit. Police didn’t report any major problems with the center, one of eight Zandex operates.

The company appealed the board’s ruling in October in Licking County Common Pleas Court and was allowed to continue to operate Northview without change as the case progressed.

“Neither the zoning inspector nor the commission has jurisdiction over the type of services that may be provided in a licensed and certified nursing home,” the company said in its appeal.

But Stout said the battle proved too costly, and that Zandex didn’t want to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a fight with the village. This morning, the company told employees that Northview would be closing.

Johnstown Village Manager Jim Lenner said that while the news of job losses is always disappointing, the closure was Zandex’s call. Village leaders were confident in their case, he said. They never intended to see Northview operate as anything but a traditional nursing home.

“We never forced them to shut down, we never asked them to shut down,” Lenner said. “We only asked to abide by rules set forth in the zoning ordinance.”